By Marc Chase in the Northwest Indiana Times:
Desperate times indeed call for desperate measures in some cases. But a sign of good leadership in politics is tackling a desperate measure with thoughtfulness -- acting in the best possible interest of taxpayers.
Lake County Republicans have been up against the wall lately trying to pick a successor for late county Assessor Hank Adams. Adams scored a rare GOP win for a countywide office in 2010, and his recent death created a party dilemma.
Most Republicans and Democrats agree -- privately if not out in the open -- that whomever the Republican caucus picks to serve out the remainder of Adams' term very well could be a sacrificial lamb for the November 2014 general election. Democrats in this Democratic county are seen as a near-lock to win back the assessor's seat.
To find a qualified candidate to endorse -- and have the slimmest of prayers to carry forward Adams' many reforms -- Lake County GOP Chairman Dan Dernulc thought outside of the box.
Dernulc is endorsing current county assessor's office employee Debra Johnson for the seat, to be decided in a Republican Party caucus Friday.
Cedar Lake resident Jolie Covaciu also said she is throwing her hat into the ring for the GOP nod, which ultimately will be decided by the county's Republican precinct committeemen.
I make no judgments here about the value of one candidate over another, but I do appreciate the sentiment of Dernulc's endorsement of Johnson.
You see, Johnson has not always voted as a Republican. In a recent election cycle, Johnson voted in the Democratic primary.
But she appears to have been a favorite employee of Adams and worked in the past for former GOP Center Township Assessor Martha Wheeler.
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See the full article here:
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/opinion/columnists/marc-chase/marc-chase-desperate-measures-can-be-shining-examples/article_a0100b75-208a-5756-b8d7-7536b7ede54e.html
